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Before Writing, Volume 1: From Counting to Cuneiform. Denise Schmandt‐Besserat. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992. 288 pp.Before Writing, Volume 2: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens. Denise Schmandt‐Besserat. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992. 452 pp.

Let's hope for fulfilment of the prophecy that was written in cuneiform on a clay tablet in ancient Babylon: 'The gods have grown angry at Babylon. The end of the world is approaching. Children have ceased to obey their parents. And everyone wants to write a book'. The following speech, slightly edited here, was given at the conference in Denmark in March 1988.

This paper examines from an accounting perspective recent work by Nissen et al. [1993], here regarded as an extension of the archaeological research of Schmandt-Besserat [1977, 1992] and its analysis by Mattessich [1987, 1994]. The transition from the 4th millennium b.c. to the 3rd millennium b.c. featured the use of protocuneiform and cuneiform accounting techniques to replace the older token accounting. This research reinforces the previously made hypothesis [Mattessich, 1987] that the inserting of tokens into a clay container during the last phase of token accounting corresponded to debit entries, while the impressing of tokens on the surface of the container was meant to convey the credit total of an equity. Similarly, in proto-cuneiform bookkeeping, debit entries appear again on one side while the credit total appears on the reverse side, but this time on the clay tablets. Yet, the research also leads to the hypothesis that the "closed double-entry system" of token accounting could not be maintained in the archaic bookkeeping of the subsequent period where, apparently, a debit/credit scheme was used in which only some but not all entries had counter-entries. Finally, the paper illustrates important labor production aspects of archaic bookkeeping and cost accounting which are contrasted to modern budgeting and standard costing.

Recent years have brought a proliferation of studies on the family on such topics as household composition, marriage patterns, childbearing practices, and life-cycle transitions. Scholars in ancient near eastern studies have contributed mainly to the legal and economic aspects of family history. Frequently the work done has centered on philological questions. The cuneiform data on the Mesopotamian family, accidental and all too often limited, is spread over a period of some three thousand years. Nevertheless it is time to broaden the focus despite the inherent problems. In this essay, I treat the question of the dynamics of Mesopotamian family life, more specifically intergenerational conflict, a topic barely touched upon by scholars in the field.

Recent archeological research offers revolutionary insight about the precursor of abstract counting and pictographic as well as ideographic writing. This precursor was a data processing system in which simple (and later complex) clay tokens of various shapes were aggregated in hollow clay receptacles or envelopes (and later sealed string systems) to represent symbolically assets and economic transactions. Scores of such tokens (the recent explanation of which is due to Prof. Schmandt-Besserat) were found by archeologists all over the Fertile Crescent in layers belonging to the time between 8000 B.C. to 3100 B.C. — after this date cuneiform clay tablets emerged.
The economic-philosophic implications of this discovery are important. First, it suggests that accounting preceded abstract counting as well as writing. Second, it suggests that conceptual representation emerged gradually. Third, it confirms the previous hypotheses that counting emerged in several stages. Fourth, it reveals the existence of an abstract input-output principle some 10,000 years ago and a kind of double entry over 5,000 years ago. Finally, it offers the earliest illustration of the (occasional) validity of the correspondence theory.
To assist readers I have inserted at the beginning of the fifth section some explanatory paragraphs on Wittgenstein's work.